Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible, Sixth Edition

Accelerated Graphics Port

Boards of the accelerated graphics port (AGP) design follow a physical standard derived from that of PCI, much as the AGP electrical interface is an offshoot of PCI. The AGP design assumes that the 3D accelerator chip and frame buffer will have a home on an expansion board rather than the motherboard, although nothing about the interface design precludes putting all the circuitry on the motherboard. In a typical computer, an expansion slot supporting the AGP connection fits on the motherboard like a PCI slot, with the same spacing and dimensional requirements. Although a given computer or motherboard may omit a PCI slot in favor of an AGP connection, AGP is electrically separate from the PCI slots and does not reduce ...